Smoked Whole Turkey Recipe

How to make it

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• This is a long process, but well worth each step.
• Begin with a fresh, or thawed 20 - 22 pound turkey. Wash the turkey thoroughly and remove all excess fat, and giblets, Carefully separate the breast skin from the breast meat, being careful not to tear the skin. This allows the brine and rub to penetrate the breast meat better.
• Mix together Brine ingredients in a pot. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and cool brine to 45 degrees. (I do this by setting the sauce pan in a sink with cold water)
• Once the brine has cooled, place it together with your turkey in a pan that will allow at least half to be submerged. (all would be better but if you do not have a suitable pan, be sure to turn the turkey regularly for the brining time in order to submerge all equally). Brine the turkey for about 8 hours.
• in the refridgerator or a cooler.
• Drain the brine from the turkey, cover with saran wrap and return to fridge for the night.
• In the morning, Wash the turkey thoroughly in cold water. Pat dry.
• Make the rub by measuring ingredients into a bowl, and adding olive oil to make a paste. Rub all over turkey, under skin on breast and into cavity. Tuck the wings under , to secure the neck skin.
• Place turkey in a disposable foil turkey roast pan and put a zip lock bag of ice over the breast. allow this to cool for about 45 min. This allows the dark meat to come up to room temperature and cools the breast meat down so that they are done at the same time.
• Heat your smoker (we use a propane smoker, but you can use the charcole type if you can maintain a temperature of 325 degreees)
• Once the smoker reaches 325, add a pan of water to your smoker to ad moist heat, place green wood in for smoke. ...(we use green apple wood but I am sure you can use your choice).
• Place the turkey (in the foil roaster) into the smoker and cook uncovered for 2 hours. This will turn it a beautiful deep brown and seal in the moisture. At this point, cover very loosely with foil and continue to cook at about 325 degrees for an additional 3 to 4 hours.
• Total cooking time... 5 1/2 to 6 hours for a 22 pound turkey, ( turkey should be 185 degrees when you take it off the smoker.
• Cover the turkey tightly with foil, and a heavy bath towel for 1/2 hour before slicing. This seals in the juices.
• This is a long process, but an extremely delicious way to serve a turkey. We did this for this years July 4th celebration and it was a HIT>